


Making Life Work

by Telaryn



Category: Leverage
Genre: F/M, Marriage, Post-Series, Pregnancy, Unconventional Families, Unconventional Relationship, Unplanned Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-12
Updated: 2015-01-12
Packaged: 2018-03-07 07:43:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3166943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Telaryn/pseuds/Telaryn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In addition to carrying on Nate's quest, the members of Leverage International have to figure out how to welcome a new member to their ranks.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Making Life Work

**Author's Note:**

  * For [hamalaka](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hamalaka/gifts).



> I was most attracted to hamalaka's prompt about Eliot babysitting Hardison and Parker's kid for the first time, but as it turned out the real story for me was the lead-up to the child's arrival. So not exactly your prompt hamalaka, but I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless.

Pregnancy had not been kind to Parker, stretching back to even before she understood why her body was suddenly betraying her in such grotesque and horrible ways. First it had been the flu; ten days of fever and nausea to the point where Hardison had decided he was just not going to ever sleep again. Once that was behind them the mood swings started, including a three day stretch where she left the brew-pub and hers and Hardison’s apartment altogether.

Eliot had been the one to find her that time – brooding in the rafters of a warehouse she’d apparently bought and stocked sometime after their relocation to Portland two years earlier. “What the hell is wrong with you these days?” he ranted, after convincing her to get in his truck and come home with him. “Hardison’s half out of his mind trying to figure out what he’s doing to make you psycho!”

Instead of explaining herself, or even retaliating with an explanation that would only make sense to her, the thief burst into tears. Eliot drove them the rest of the way in silence, trying to convince himself that the slow, dawning realization twisting his guts into knots was anything but what it was starting to look like.

“Please tell me the two of you are using birth control,” Eliot begged Hardison after the hacker had convinced Parker that he wasn’t angry with her, everything was okay, and of course she could finish off whatever cereal they had left in the cupboard. “Just tell me you aren’t this reckless.”

Still on edge with worry over his wife, Hardison looked confused at first. “How is that any of your business?” he began, but backed off as soon as he registered the look of determination on Eliot’s face. “Yes! Of course! We’re not ready to be parents – Parker’s on the same page as me about it.” He paused, his brain catching up to where Eliot’s suspicions were busy digging in for a long stay. “Why? Did she tell you something?”

“Hardison, I was _ten_ when my baby sister was born. I may not remember everything about what my mother was like when she was pregnant, but I remember enough. You’re _sure_ you and Parker are taking every precaution?”

“I’m sure, dammit!” the hacker snapped. He stilled abruptly a moment later though, and Eliot’s heart plummeted.

“What?”

The young man facing him had gone frighteningly pale. “Even if you take operator error out of the equation, which I don’t think we can really do here, there’s not a birth control thing around that has a zero percent chance of failure.”  
************************************  
When Hardison finally confessed what he and Eliot suspected, they weren’t telling Parker anything she hadn’t already figured out for herself. She had no problem with the idea of getting pregnant – that was biology and biology was something you couldn’t stop and could only sometimes control.

The problem was, what was she supposed to do now? What she wanted to do was call Sophie, but Sophie and Nate were at a resort in Switzerland, and besides if she called Sophie Nate would find out, and Parker knew she _really_ didn’t want Nate finding out.

Not yet, at any rate. He would have to find out eventually, but Parker wasn’t ready to deal with him ranting and being disappointed in her. Particularly because she suspected he would get on a plane just to deliver the lecture in person.

“We need to find you a baby doctor,” Hardison suggested as their first course of action, and while she generally distrusted the people in white coats, Parker immediately agreed with him.

She was privately relieved when Hardison asked Eliot to come with them to the first appointment. He apologized a lot after he did it, because he’d forgotten he was apparently supposed to ask her before doing something like that. She forgave him, but forgot to tell him in turn that if he hadn’t already asked Eliot, she was going to.

He’d tried to get out of going, of course. “Parker, this really is a you-and-Hardison thing. I’m just going to be in the way.”

She’d grabbed his hand without thinking – ever since getting pregnant she’d been more touchy-feely than she could ever remember being before. “You’re family, Eliot,” she said, hoping she would be able to make him understand why this was so important. “You know about babies and parents and normal people things. I don’t, and I’m pretty sure Hardison doesn’t. We need you.”

He still looked doubtful, but he’d stopped trying to back away from her. That was good, yes? All the times Sophie had tried to teach her about body language, and she couldn’t remember any of it. “You know things are going to have to change, right?” he asked. “You’re gonna have to start eating healthy.”

“That’s the other reason we need you,” she said. “You’re the only one I know that can make non-gross healthy food.”  
************************************  
Against all odds, Hardison found an obstetrician who didn’t even blink on seeing the three of them crowded into the exam room. The first part of the visit was easy – mostly questions and answers going back and forth. Eliot handled most of the questions on their side – Parker was completely out of her depth, and Hardison was so shell-shocked Eliot was surprised when he actually managed to string more than two words together.

He did withdraw from the physical portion of the exam though, after a nearly silent argument with Hardison reminding him that as Parker’s husband and the child-to-be’s father, he had to stay for _all_ the gross parts. _”I’ll get you for this, man,”_ was Hardison’s parting shot.

Eliot remained unimpressed. Parker was declared healthy though, and they were given a due date and reassurance that the baby-to-be was healthy too and growing as expected. “She says I need to eat lots of fruit and vegetables though,” Parker said on the drive home, scowling.

“I’ve got you covered,” Eliot reassured her. “Don’t worry.”

The three of them settled back into something resembling their normal routine. Hardison made the call to tell Nate and Sophie of the impending parenthood and was able to reassure them that it didn’t require them cutting their trip short. Both of them wanted to talk to Parker, who held it together until Nate said “congratulations”, then shoved the phone at Eliot and ran out of the room crying.

 _”Hormones already in play, huh?”_ the mastermind asked.

Eliot sighed. “You have no idea.”

Fortunately pregnancy didn’t impact Parker’s ability to mastermind jobs for them. The holidays always seemed to carve a well-lit path bringing the needy and downtrodden to their door. By the fifth month of the pregnancy Hardison was doing preliminary legwork on a client while Eliot and Parker were laying out the job framework for another and more often than not the three of them were actively helping a third at the same time.

Parker’s body had started to change as well, but the implications of that wouldn’t make themselves known until the day she tried to make a fifteen foot leap to safety and came up short. Eliot was close enough to grab her wrist as she started to fall, but it was a heart-stopping several minutes getting her up on the parapet with him.

“My center of balance is all fucked up,” Parker admitted at last. Hardison was pale and shaking by the time they reached him at the van.

“I can’t do this,” he said, taking Parker in his arms and hugging her as tightly as she would allow. “Until this baby’s born safe, something’s gotta change.” He also insisted on taking her to the doctor – a move Eliot backed. Parker didn’t seem to have the will to argue with either of them, instead letting Hardison hold her in the back of the van while Eliot drove.  
**************************************  
Once Parker was cleared and the baby pronounced safe, she called Tara for help. Nate and Sophie also came home, but Nate was careful to make certain Parker understood he was there as backup only. “This is your team,” he said when she hugged him close. “It’s still your call.”

Stella Marie Hardison was born in the Spring, during the two weeks when Portland’s weather mellowed into something glorious. After a lot of arguing and a lot of begging Eliot finally agreed to be in the delivery room with the new parents, and he was the one who escorted the newest member of their family to her first bath and check-up while the doctor and Hardison saw to the needs of an exhausted Parker.

“You’ve joined a crazy family there, little one,” Eliot murmured a half hour later, watching the tiny infant squirm restlessly under the warming lamp. Hardison had helped get Parker cleaned up and settled back in bed – she was dozing now, curled up in his arms. “You sure you’re up for this?”

Unlike the others, he’d grown up as part of a big family – three brothers and three sisters. There’d never been enough of anything to go around, but his parents had always made sure each of the kids knew that they were loved and wanted, and had inside them the ability to go wherever they wanted and someday accomplish whatever they put their mind to. Eliot’s mind had set him on some fairly dark paths over the years, and watching Stella settle down for a nap he realized that somewhere along the way he’d accepted that home and family and children weren’t for the likes of him.

Nate had changed all that by drawing him back into the light and hooking him up with this crazy excuse for a family. Then Parker and Hardison had gone one step further, making him a part of their lives in a way he’d never thought he would be able to have for himself. “And now there’s you,” he finished, tracing the curve of the baby’s cheek with the tip of one finger. “You’re going to make my life hell – I can see it now.”

The baby turned into his touch, and silent tears of wonder spilled down Eliot’s cheeks.


End file.
